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News: entrepreneur Elon Musk has revealed designs for a supersonic Hyperloop transport system to link Los Angeles and San Francisco in just 30 minutes

Hyperloop passenger capsule version cutaway with passengers onboard
Elon Musk, billionaire and founder of Paypal, electric-car firm Tesla Motors and space technology company SpaceX, has revealed designs for Hyperloop – a supersonic Jetsons-style transportation system for California. Travelling at over 700 mph, passengers would sit in a 1.35-metre-wide tube and be blasted through the 382-mile tunnel linking Los Angeles and San Francisco in just 30 minutes.

After months of speculation, Musk envisions using magnets and fans to shoot capsules that float on a cushion of air through a long tube. “Hyperloop is a new mode of transport that seeks to change this paradigm by being both fast and inexpensive for people and goods,” said Musk in the design study.

Hyperloop passenger capsule version with doors open at the station
In the designs, passenger capsules that float on a cushion of air are transported at high speed through a low pressure tube, elevated over the land between the two cities. “The capsules are accelerated via a magnetic linear accelerator affixed at various stations on the low pressure tube with rotors contained in each capsule,” Musk said.

Passengers would not notice the speed and travel by Hyperloop would feel a lot like being in an aeroplane, Musk explains: “It should really feel just super smooth and quiet. And there’d never be any turbulence or anything.”

Musk’s twin city vision. San Francisco to Los Angeles in 30 minutes by Hyperloop
Well-known for electric cars, civilian space travel and a vision for interplanetary evolution and sending humans to Mars, the transportation tycoon says Hyperloop would be twice as fast as an aeroplane, cheaper than a bullet train and completely self-powered. It would be both weather and earthquake resistant.

Hyperloop capsule in tube cutaway with attached solar arrays
“If we are to make a massive investment in a new transportation system, then the return should by rights be equally massive,” Musk said. “Compared to the alternatives, it should ideally be: safer, faster, lower-cost, more convenient, immune to weather, sustainably self-powering, resistant to earthquakes and not too disruptive to those along the route.”

Musk made the announcement via Twitter last night and a full 57 page pdf document detailing his ideas was published shortly after 9.30pm GMT. He held a 30 minute conference shortly after.

The designs for Hyperloop are open source and Musk has asked for feedback from others to advance the design and make it a reality.

Schematic of air bearing skis that support the capsule
The transportation tycoon first mentioned Hyperloop in July 2012 – leaving amateur designers, engineers and investors speculating ever since. Musk described Hyperloop as the “fifth mode of transportation” – the previous four being train, plane, automobile, and boat. “It’s not a vacuum tunnel, but a cross between Concorde, a rail-gun and air hockey table,” he said.

“The Hyperloop is something that would go effectively faster than the speed of sound. Conceivably you could live in San Fran and work in LA,” said Musk.

Proposed Hyperloop route – San Francisco to LA in 30 minutes
Musk has said his Hyperloop designs rival the “high-speed” train the US are proposing. “The $60 billion bullet train they’re proposing in California would be the slowest bullet train in the world at the highest cost per mile.” Musk said. “They’re going for records in all the wrong ways. The cost of the SF-LA Hyperloop would be in the $6 billion range.”

Musk’s ideas for futuristic transport don’t stop there. Speaking online during a Google “Hangout” event with Virgin Group CEO and founder of Virgin Galactic Richard Branson on Friday, Musk said he has another idea, to rival Concorde — a vertical lift-off supersonic electric passenger jet. He said that he envisaged journeys over 1000 miles long being done in aircraft that would travel faster than the speed of sound.

“If you fly high enough and have the right geometry of plane, you can make the sonic boom no louder than current planes,” he said.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk with Falcon 9 rocket. Photo: SpaceX
Musk commented that vertical take-off and landings would mean passengers could land closer to a desired destination – eliminating the need for large airports and long runways. Too busy – with electric car innovations, hovering reusable rockets and passenger flights to Mars – to launch into the vertical jet business just yet, Musk did add: “If somebody doesn’t do [it] then maybe, at some point in the future, I will.”

Read more transportation features on Dezeen »
See our archive about transport and architecture in space »

Here is the full announcement from SpaceX:

Hyperloop

August 12, 2013
By Elon Musk, Chairman, Product Architect, CEO

When the California “high speed” rail was approved, I was quite disappointed, as I know many others were too. How could it be that the home of Silicon Valley and JPL – doing incredible things like indexing all the world’s knowledge and putting rovers on Mars – would build a bullet train that is both one of the most expensive per mile and one of the slowest in the world? Note, I am hedging my statement slightly by saying “one of”. The head of the California high speed rail project called me to complain that it wasn’t the very slowest bullet train nor the very most expensive per mile.

The underlying motive for a statewide mass transit system is a good one. It would be great to have an alternative to flying or driving, but obviously only if it is actually better than flying or driving. The train in question would be both slower, more expensive to operate (if unsubsidised) and less safe by two orders of magnitude than flying, so why would anyone use it?

If we are to make a massive investment in a new transportation system, then the return should by rights be equally massive. Compared to the alternatives, it should ideally be:

Safer
Faster
Lower cost
More convenient
Immune to weather
Sustainably self-powering
Resistant to Earthquakes
Not disruptive to those along the route
Is there truly a new mode of transport – a fifth mode after planes, trains, cars and boats – that meets those criteria and is practical to implement? Many ideas for a system with most of those properties have been proposed and should be acknowledged, reaching as far back as Robert Goddard’s to proposals in recent decades by the Rand Corporation and ET3.

Unfortunately, none of these have panned out. As things stand today, there is not even a short distance demonstration system operating in test pilot mode anywhere in the world, let alone something that is robust enough for public transit. They all possess, it would seem, one or more fatal flaws that prevent them from coming to fruition.

Constraining the Problem

The Hyperloop (or something similar) is, in my opinion, the right solution for the specific case of high traffic city pairs that are less than about 1500 km or 900 miles apart. Around that inflection point, I suspect that supersonic air travel ends up being faster and cheaper. With a high enough altitude and the right geometry, the sonic boom noise on the ground would be no louder than current airliners, so that isn’t a showstopper. Also, a quiet supersonic plane immediately solves every long distance city pair without the need for a vast new worldwide infrastructure.

However, for a sub several hundred mile journey, having a supersonic plane is rather pointless, as you would spend almost all your time slowly ascending and descending and very little time at cruise speed. In order to go fast, you need to be at high altitude where the air density drops exponentially, as air at sea level becomes as thick as molasses (not literally, but you get the picture) as you approach sonic velocity.

News: construction of China’s 838 metre-high Sky City tower has stalled just days after it began amid safety fears and a lack of necessary government approval.

Chinese media channel Xinhua news has reported that the construction of the world’s tallest building, set for Changsha in central China, is postponed until the project passes relevant safety examinations and gains building permits.

Authorities in the Wancheng District of Changsha are still examining the building’s structure and firefighting facilities, reported Chinese state publication The Global Times, adding that applications for official licenses are still underway.

This news comes only days after a ground-breaking ceremony was held at the site.

As previously reported on Dezeen, construction firm Broad Sustainable Building Technology plans to erect the tower using pre-fabricated components that slot together like a Meccano toy.

When completed the steel skyscraper will be taller than Dubai’s Burj Khalifa and include schools, a hospital, office facilities, 17 helipads and apartments for over 30,000 people.

Last year Broad Sustainable Building Technology announced that the tower would be built in just 90 days.

The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in health by supporting the brightest minds. Its headquarters is the inspiring and beautifully maintained Gibbs Building in London’sEuston Road, designed by Hopkins Architects in 2004.

At the western end of the atrium is the stunning Bleigiessen sculpture. Its fluid, cascading form of 142,000 glass spheres suspended along steel wires, represents the intriguing pattern created by dropping molten lead into water.

Eric Maddock specified Sill Lighting UK for the original metal halide scheme to light both the atrium and sculpture in 2004. However both have now been replaced by an energy and maintenance saving LED solution, again by Sill UK.

The lighting design accentuates the undulating form of the sculpture, complementing the architecture that surrounds it. This stunning effect is enhanced by Sill’s projectors, which penetrate the wires and emphasise the shifting colours and brightness within the glass. The sophisticated…

Please have a look around the site, we appreciate if you can rate the blogs and share it to your friends. We are also keen to hear your comment. Subscribe to be regularly updated of our latest projects and designs. Thank you for taking time to visit our blog.

Minerco Intl

Project Description:

Minerco Intl purchased this amazing office in 2011 which has amazing uninterrupted views of Burj Khalifa, Dubai Mall and the Down Town Area in Dubai.

Minerco is a metals trading company and as such they wanted a modern minimal design that was in keeping with their existing Head Office in Germany with the added benefit that each and every office, including the open plan trading area, has spectacular views.

The design is predominantly brushed steel finish, coupled with black and white glossy surfaces throughout the space with a top quality matte charcoal wooden floor that runs through the entire office.
To complement the quality finishes, the office was kitted out with furniture entirely from Vitra including the desks, chairs, conference table, storage and seating.

Features:

-Custom made archway, inclusive of hidden lighting for the reception including Artemide lighting over the reception desk -Custom Made illuminated Reception…